Being busy in the middle of a project and then finding out that my purple disappearing marker was dried out, was disappointing!!  I didn’t feel like running to the store just for that purpose, so I thought about it for a sec…..what to do…..what to do????  As a professional pattern maker, I use awl marks to mark darts and such, but for my own personal sewing I use the purple marker all the time.  I’ve tried the blue one way back when, but had a very bad experience when it got steamed into a project that I worked hard on and ruined it.  Lesson learned.
Being the mom of a young child, I got the idea to try HIS washable Crayola Markers.  Would they work??  That would be too easy, wouldn’t it??  So I decided to try the Light Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow, and Pink.
So since I didn’t want to ruin the project at hand, I decided to do some testing.  I marked 2 pieces of fabric in the same way with solid lines and dots.  This trial was done on a poly/cotton blend of a woven fabric.  I steam pressed one of the sample pieces.
Not as finely pointed as I would like, but they make them with a fine point too.

After that I got a wet piece of cloth and rubbed the upper section of each sample,  low and behold both samples came out with little effort!!  How about that!!  Now I’m NOT trying to mislead anyone with a good set of eyeballs and clean pair of glasses. The solid lines didn’t disappear completely in every color but the dots did.  I consider this a victory since I didn’t launder the garment yet or even try that hard to get the marks out.  I’m quite sure that laundering will take any little bits out later since I’ve washed many, many of my son’s clothes with marker stains and they always come out.
Unpressed Sample
Pressed Sample
I  truly think I’ve found my New marking pens!!  I just explored my options online and found a set with a smaller, finer point that’s still washable.  Crayola Washable Fine Line Markers Classic.  The good thing is that they’re not expensive.  I can’t remember how much the purple disappearing marker is, but I think it’s a few bucks for sure for just one.  This set was inexpensive and many stores regularly have Crayola products on sale.  The best part for me is that the ones I don’t use in the set, I can give to my son to color with.  How’s that for a WIN/WIN situation!!
Thanks for taking the time to read about my “Make it Work Moment”!!  Please leave me a comment if you’ve tried this and what you thought of it.  It’s always great to hear of YOU!!